Axon II ordered... what else do i need?

[kl22]

I BOUGHT THE AXON II ABOUT 2 MINUTES AGO!!

So some of you might have noticed I've been making a lot of posts recently about what mcu to get... and finally Axon II won

FYI: I will be creating a blog with everything that I'm doing/learning while using the Axon II (So admin I'll give you a link to it when I get it started)

So.. now i need to know what else to buy

1. I need to be able to drive DC motors as well as servos. I know I can plug in servo directly into the board (right?). But do I need a motor controller for the DC motors? How do I calculate distance traveled? (Encoders)?

2. I2C/SPI stuff how do I use the bus? Do i need to buy a module or something that expands the I2C/SPI bus?

3. What do I do if my servo needs more current or voltage? (motor controller?)

4. Bluetooth/Wifi/Xbee how can these to work if possible?

[waltr]

Congrats on the Axon II.

The best thing you can now is read, read, read. There is plenty of info about your questions on SoR and other places.

Learning to program the Axon will keep you busy for a while so it might be best to hold off buy those other parts. Getting some LEDs blinking a a servo turning will be a good start.

[Webbot]

1. I need to be able to drive DC motors as well as servos. I know I can plug in servo directly into the board (right?). But do I need a motor controller for the DC motors? How do I calculate distance traveled? (Encoders)?

Yep - plug servos straight in.
DC Motors need a controller. Lots out there. They tend to be driven over a UART or via PWM - look at things like the Sabertooth.

2. I2C/SPI stuff how do I use the bus? Do i need to buy a module or something that expands the I2C/SPI bus?

No its all there. I2C is easier to use. SPI is more difficult since it shares the same pins as the ISP programmer. But if you use the bootloader over UART1 (ie USB) then you can easily use the pins from the ISP programmer header for SPI without swapping cables all the time.
And if you use WebbotLib, then you can create a software SPI bus using any of the standard IO pins which you may find easier

3. What do I do if my servo needs more current or voltage? (motor controller?)

For a servo then 'No - voltages stay the same. Just make sure your battery can provide the total current without its voltage dipping too low. For a DC motor then choose the amps you need from day one

4. Bluetooth/Wifi/Xbee how can these to work if possible?

I have a Bluetooth device that just plugs onto my Axon UART pins - then a Bluetooth dongle in my PC. Easy. No extra software - just works!

[kl22]

waltr:
Yeah I've been reading like crazy.

Webbot:
Thanks for the great info! I'm not too sure sure about how the SPI and ISP programmer uses the same pins, but I guess I'll find out when I receive the controller .

So are there no wifi/xbee solutions? I really want to try this wrt54g router hack that allows the router to have a serial port which I can then use to connect to a mcu. Any thoughts?

[waltr]

So are there no wifi/xbee solutions?

There are.
For the XBee you just interface it to the asynchronous (UART) lines of the processor (Axon) and another XBee to the PC with either a USB interface board or an RS232 interface board. It is a fairly easy interface but you should get the Axon communicating over a wire first, then add a radio.

I believe there are also easy WiFi interfaces but know nothing about them.